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“If Canada is seen to be playing in the sandbox with the Chinese on the business front, it can turn into the view that we are the soft underbelly of the North American continent and could prove to be another vulnerability in the Canada-U.S. relations,’’ says Paul Frazer, a former Canadian diplomat who now lobbies for Canadian interests south of the border.

While it is easy for Canadians to blithely reject U.S. bids to caricature this nation, the reality is that when the two nations are sputtering along on a huge set of negotiations to streamline the 49th parallel while safeguarding security such perceptions weigh heavily.

In the U.S., much of the China-bashing could be election year muscle flexing, but a Congressional report released last week warning that two Chinese telecoms are a threat to American national security has Canadian repercussions.

As he contemplates the takeover of Calgary-based Nexen by a state-owned Chinese company, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has acknowledged there is a “national security dimension’’ to Canada-China relations.

It raises concerns and is something he takes “very seriously,’’ Harper said.

The much-celebrated Beyond the Border pact being negotiated by Ottawa and Washington has already been slowed by election year politics.

Birgit Matthiessen, the senior adviser for government relations to the president for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, knows the sensitivity of bilateral files during an election year.

Everything can be politicized, anything to do with border security can jump out in the middle of the campaign and bite a candidate, so caution is understandable, she says.

But she is concerned there is no checklist being released by either side on exactly where they are on the talks.

“It absolutely concerns us and all stakeholders,’’ she says. “This lack of information is very disconcerting.’’

The information shortfall, with the deadlines that have come and gone, cannot all be attributable to electioneering, she believes.

There has been some limited progress.

Beginning next month, trusted Canadian travellers will be eligible for expedited security screening at 27 U.S. airports.

A pilot program has begun at four land crossings in which the two countries will share data collected from third-country nationals.

The two countries, under another pilot program, are now jointly inspecting foreign flagged vessels crossing the international border on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Last month, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano met to discuss making redress easier for those wrongly barred from flights under Do Not Fly provisions.

Friday, Toews announced that the Shiprider Program, in which maritime law enforcement vessels jointly staffed by Canadian and American officers will ride back and forth across the border, will begin in British Columbia and Ontario.

But a request for anything further was answered by Toews’ office merely pointing The Star back to a departmental website and a promise of an annual report by the end of this year.

The Beyond the Border program was announced with much fanfare between Harper and Barack Obama last year, with a formal, photo-op ceremony deemed a necessity from the Canadian side.

Since then, it has been shrouded in secrecy, negotiated in the weeds reserved for regulatory programs.

Should Mitt Romney win the presidency Nov. 6, the program would at very least be delayed as personnel comes and goes and priorities are redefined.

Every presidential candidate, regardless of the party, wants to talk tough on border security post-9/11; the Republicans want to regain their tough-on-security mantle.

The Mexican border is the default border to be discussed during election years, largely because of the huge Latino vote which must be courted. A Romney victory would not lead to an all-out assault on Beyond the Border. But it could lead to a death of quiet neglect.

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